Kahr CW45, tell me what to look for and not like about it.

This is a discussion on Kahr CW45, tell me what to look for and not like about it. within the Defensive Carry Guns forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I guess I should have asked this qeustion before I bought the thing, but oh well.
I really went to the gun shop today to ...

Kahr CW45, tell me what to look for and not like about it.

I guess I should have asked this qeustion before I bought the thing, but oh well.

I really went to the gun shop today to look for the wife a new gun. Single stack 9mm. She has been carrying a PF9, but hates shooting it at the range. Well he didn't have much there. It looks like the M&P shields are going to be scarce in some areas for a while now. He had a P11 but that really isn't much different than the PF9.

He had Kahrs in 40 and 45 but no 9's. Times have been tight with the guy due to some personal problems and I really was looking to help him out by finding something to pick up. 40's are out. I don't have any and don't feel the need for anything between 9 and 45. I kept coming back to the CW45.

I layed it beside, on top of an LC9 he had, which is virtually the same size as the PF9. There really wasn't much difference. A little longer, a little taller but not much, especially if you factor in the finger extension on the mag of the LC9 or PF9. He said he could order the CW9 it wouldn't be any trouble, but I really wanted to buy something he had in inventory to free up some cash for him.

Anyway I told him to get the 4473, I would take the CW45, and if the wife liked it I would come back and get her a CW9. We just have to get to the range and run some rounds through it. So I swapped him some Benjamins and got a small plastic box with Kahr on it and 4,000 small pistol primers, last count I was down to 2 or 3k of them.

I know there has been some discussion on Kahrs not liking to be sling shot on the first round. Just for kicks I loaded up a mag of 230 gr Federal HST's and racked the slide only to find it fed the round like any other gun. Maybe I did something wrong.

So, now that I have already spent the money and have it at the house, is there anything that I need to look for? Anything to do or not to do with the gun. No I am not going to rack the slide 200 times before I go shoot the thing. I will clean it, take it out and run the gun like I do anything else. If it doesn't run right, I will then polish it up and go from there.

What else?

BTW, it fits in the same Desantis IWB holsters as the PF9. That is a plus.

Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.www.ddchl.com
Texas CHL Instructor
Texas Hunter Education Instructor
NRA Instructor

they only thing I would advise you already said you won't do. Kahrs are really tight from the factory and racking the slide really loosens the gun up a bit and makes your first range session an enjoyable one instead of a possible frustrating one.

The only two things I did not like about my CW45 when I had it were: it only came with one mag and the other were the sights. I just never liked them. Went looking for replacement sights I ended up trading it in on a different toy.

I carry a CW45 on a daily basis. I heard the same things about cycling the slide 200 times. I didn't do it. I don't slingshot , so didn't worry about that. I did throw a snap cap in and dry fired it, to familiarize myself with the trigger.

I did my normal new gun cleaning and headed for the range with 2 boxes of Federal Champion, a box of WWB and a box of Tula, along with a box of Winchester PDX1 and Federal HST.

First box of Federal and WWB fed and functioned with no problems. Switched to the Tula and the found that was a major mistake. Failure to feed, failure to extract, failure to fire, slide locking up, without going into battery. You name it, it went wrong. After getting the slide freed up the last time, I put the Tula up and went to my last box of Federal Champion. Gun functioned perfectly. Fired the box of PDX1 with no problems, pulled out the Federal HST, again the gun functioned perfectly.

I'm not saying all, but MY CW45 DOES NOT like Tula ammo. Once I got use to it, I liked the trigger, although longer than I'm use to, it was smooth.

Kahrs like to be lubed. I found the .45 Kahr needed a very firm grip. The lightweight made for some heavy "grip busting" recoil, especially when using +P ammo.

I found the gun to be accurate, but it isn't a target gun. The trigger is meant to be pressed with purpose, not sqeezed gently and slowly, as one would a target .22 in competition. A relaxed trigger finger allows the long pull to be kept linear.

I think there is merit in adding a grip sleeve with a finger bump to the polymer Kahrs, to aide in a firm grip. IMHO it helps.

I ignore the pre-range cycling ritual too. It isn't something Kahr recommends. The first magazine shot through the gun will do more than hundreds of manual cycles IMHO.

All of my Kahrs will cycle and feed when sligshot with authority. All will misfeed if I ride the slide.

Is there a problem with the magazine dropping free with the CW45 like the CM9/PM9 has?

Some of the earlier CW45's had an inadequate mag catch. The recoil could cause your thumb to bump the release enough to cause a mag drop. I had that problem with mine when I first got it, but they fixed it quickly and free. No issues since.

I carry a CW45 on a daily basis. I heard the same things about cycling the slide 200 times. I didn't do it. I don't slingshot , so didn't worry about that. I did throw a snap cap in and dry fired it, to familiarize myself with the trigger.

I did my normal new gun cleaning and headed for the range with 2 boxes of Federal Champion, a box of WWB and a box of Tula, along with a box of Winchester PDX1 and Federal HST.

First box of Federal and WWB fed and functioned with no problems. Switched to the Tula and the found that was a major mistake. Failure to feed, failure to extract, failure to fire, slide locking up, without going into battery. You name it, it went wrong. After getting the slide freed up the last time, I put the Tula up and went to my last box of Federal Champion. Gun functioned perfectly. Fired the box of PDX1 with no problems, pulled out the Federal HST, again the gun functioned perfectly.

I'm not saying all, but MY CW45 DOES NOT like Tula ammo. Once I got use to it, I liked the trigger, although longer than I'm use to, it was smooth.

Mine doesnt like Tula either but that not a big deal, Ive had no problem with decent ammo... The thing does hurt to shoot when i run 185gr. +P thru it, Overall I love mine...

My apologies for not been clear with my question, I meant to say that CM9/PM9 does not drop the empty magazine without assistance. Does the CW45 have the same issue? Members at kahrtalk suggest either send the mag back or file the inside of the grip frame.

I went out and shot the CW 45 today. I took a bucket of my 230 gr reloaded ammo and some Federal HST. I probably shot 300-400 rds.

Everything fed and shot fine. It didn't make any difference whether I used the slide release or pulled the slide back, it picked up the round fine and fed fine. I shot pretty much everything from 7 yds. No failures to fire, feed, eject or anything.

Accuracy was acceptable. Trigger was fine. It took a bit to get used to the sights, although it shoots a little low vs point of aim. Not as low as Heinie sights that I have on my PT111 though. After hundreds of rounds, the bottom of my palm was noticing the gap between the bottom of the grip and the magazine. The web of my hand was starting to feel where it was rubbing on the top of the grip. Neither was unacceptable. Recoil was really not all that bad. With a good firm grip the gun didn't jump much and semi rapid/rapid fire was managable.

However, I am having one issue with it. Even though it fed fine slingshotting the slide, at times the takedown pin/slide stop would pop out when not using the slide stop itself to release the slide and load a round. A couple of times the slide did not lock back on the empty mag. The reason was the slide stop had come out just a hair.

When I got home I took it apart cleaned it and looked at everything very closely. As far as I can tell, the slide stop spring screw might not be all the way in. The spring is just barely into the grove of the slide stop. Of course the screw is smaller than a T10, so I have to go get a mini torx set and see if I can tighten it up just a touch.

Has anyone else had this issue or heard of this issue with the CW series. I tried to call Kahr, but of course they closed during the time period that I was on hold

Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.www.ddchl.com
Texas CHL Instructor
Texas Hunter Education Instructor
NRA Instructor

What's not to like? Recoil, recoil, recoil, and more...yup, recoil. The PM9 has some muzzle flip, the P9 does too because it's so light. Low pressure or not you're moving a big chunk of lead out of a gun that weights next to nothing. You'll want to seriously think about how effective you'll be at placing shots, especially the 2nd one, on target. I love .45 and have several. I love .357 and have too many, but to be frank the recoil is stout. I believe some may find it more manageable than others but I'm also of the opinon that a lot of folks aren't honest with themselves when it comes to judging how well they realy handle that recoil; the real question is how well will you be able to use a gun with that recoil in a defensive situation. The possible plus side is that it'll likey be really close.

Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.www.ddchl.com
Texas CHL Instructor
Texas Hunter Education Instructor
NRA Instructor